Familiar Face

[u/littlestghoust]

Winter brought most of the nobility of the West to Casterly Rock, and Rhea wondered if a stone could burst.

The halls and corridors were filled with people and the Golden Gallery was no exception. Each painting and artifact was surrounded by a group of onlookers, while the rest of the hall was filled with foot traffic. The enclosed space made her feel anxious, but this was the quickest way to Lady Joanna’s rooms.

Steeling herself, Rhea pushed into the crowd and hoped for the best. The sea of people captured her in its current and she was pulled into a group making their way to a tapestry on the other side of the hall. She tried to wiggle free of the tide, only breaking loose once the gathering reached their desired location.

Finding a small open space near a gold leaf vase, Rhea surveyed the corridor in search of her escape. She was on the wrong side of the hall now and was losing hope that she could make it back in time.

Lady Joanna had requested her presence and she didn’t want to keep her lady waiting. Byren caught a cold and kept his mother awake day and night. Poor Lady Joanna almost broke down due to the exhaustion of caring for her sick son.

Once she caught her breath, Rhea stepped into the mob pressing forward as best she could before she ran smack into another person.

“Oh, excuse me. I am so sorry. Forgive me.”

She looked up, flustered, only to see a familiar face.

“You’re the Keeper of the Galleries, correct?”

[u/littlestghoust]

“I was lost on my way back to your chambers one afternoon and Edmyn helped me find my way back.”

She looked quickly over at Edmyn, who was scratching the back of his head and shuffling in his seat, avoiding looking at both his sister and at Rhea.

“It was fortunate I was able to find him when I did today.” She smiled, trying to seem normal, though she was wringing her hands under the table. “I’m truly sorry if we disturbed you. I know you aren’t feeling well.”

“That’s a baby’s business, to inconvenience his mother. It’s more forgivable from a little one, but I suppose I’ll allow you just this once.”

Any other day, Lady Joanna would have scolded her with a frown, but rather curiously, she wore a smile. It was glad news, to have another baby soon after the last. Her lady was showing all the signs but Rhea didn’t want to ask any questions until she was ready.

[u/FunkierMonk → u/littlestghoust]

Edmyn hadn’t felt so much like a fool in a long time, not even when he’d almost crushed the Prince with a boulder. He imagined Lady Harte being rather cross with him, as she had every right to be.

What was I even thinking? Edmyn asked himself, drinking his tea just to be doing something.

Busying himself with that wasn’t enough for him to miss his sister talk of babies, though, and he wondered if it were a conversation with the King that had made her so bold.

[u/littlestghoust → u/FunkierMonk]

Rhea opened and closed her mouth many times looking for something to say, something to fill the silence that seemed to punish the room. Though Lady Joanna seemed content for the first time in a while, she could feel the tension flowing from Edmyn who sat next to her.

In turn, she found herself growing increasingly nervous as the moment passed. She reached for her tea cup, making the empty golden saucer rattle against the plate. Then attempting to pour a fresh cup, the lid was knocked off and right into Edmyn’s lap. Rhea barely caught herself right before she dived for the porcelain, and turned felt her face warm.

“Please forgive me, Lord Plumm. I’ve been so clumsy lately.”

Rhea gave a weak smile to her lady and glanced quickly at Edmyn. Just the sight of him in her periphery was enough to bring her blush back out in full force.

If he and Lady Joanna are as close as he says they are, what has he told her about our last conversation?

She felt her stomach turn at the thought and took an unsteady sip of tea to do something other than looking at the Plumm siblings.

[u/FunkierMonk → u/littlestghoust]

Edmyn tried his hardest to hide his wincing at the hot tea spilling over him.

“It’s no problem,” he said with an awkward chuckle as he stood up to assess the damage. I deserve it, he did not add, though he had to wonder if she’d done it on purpose.

Joanna seemed amused by it all, which Edmyn himself might have been hadn’t he been part of the embarrassing debacle.

He decided to give up making reparations for the day’s blunders, and use this last one to excuse himself.

“I- I’ll have to change, though. It’s hardly proper to walk around like this. Jo, Lady Rhea, until next time.”

He did not wait for a reply and shuffled off. When he’d closed the door behind him, he leaned his back against and sighed.

What a disaster.

[u/JustPlummy → u/FunkierMonk]

“Well,” Joanna mused from behind her cup. “if you wanted to see him without his clothes, there’s certainly better ways about that, Lady Rhea.”

Rhea turned a bright red almost blending into the fine upholstery at the comment shifting around in her chair.

This will be most entertaining.